This date in the Boca Beacon: Friends 20th Anniversary

FIVE YEARS AGO

The Gasparilla Island Tennis Classic was canceled due to COVID-19. The first COVID shots were distributed at the Boca Grande Health Clinic.

TEN YEARS AGO

The new swing bridge opened to traffic for the first time. The new 22-foot-tall bridge had been under construction since 2012. Happy VanBeuren and her dog, Penny, were the first to arrive over the bridge.

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO

The Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority decided to include a sidewalk in the south bridge’s design plan on Cole Island.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

Lee County Commissioners held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the renovation of the Dishong-Bowen and Teacherage Historic Houses. Following the ceremony the Friends of Boca Grande celebrated its 20th anniversary.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO 

Community meetings were scheduled to discuss building a cluster of small one-story “Old Florida” buildings on the county-owned ball field property located on Wheeler Road.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

The Gasparilla Causeway Inc. was seeking to establish the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority through legislative action.

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Boca Bay applied for permits to construct a 120-slip inland docking facility complete with a state-of-the-art lock at the south end of Gasparilla Island.

FORTY YEARS AGO

Bascule Ventures, owner of the abandoned railroad bridge between Placida and Gasparilla Island, had a deal to sell the bridge to the Long Island Railroad. The bridge was expected to be loaded onto a barge sometime in January.